Seventeen years after the death of its founder and a decade after moving operations from New York to Chicago, the renowned Joffrey Ballet lives on, and this week the company begins celebrating its 50th anniversary. “The Joffrey was the most American of [New York’s] three major classical companies in its embrace of pop culture and its youthfulness. And it was also the troupe that drew in new ballet audiences of all ages… The company is now a continual presence in [Chicago] with four two-week seasons a year. And it is moving toward establishing itself as the third leg of a classical triumvirate with the Lyric Opera and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.”